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Hello Neil,
I am also looking at the GSTAR-EX as a possible astro camera. I have been speaking with the crew out west (WSAAG) who in general prefer Canon DSLRs and other enormous CCD beasties which cost arm + leg to purchase, and then you need a mount + scope worthy of the camera ... etc, etc.
All good.
However, for those of us without research grade budgets, the GSTAR has some compelling features.
You get an image in 2.6 seconds max. Very good for focussing. You get about 750 x 575 pixels per image, which is more or less dependant on the frame grabber you use. It's also 8-bits per image as far as I can tell from my frame grabber docs, although the camera operates internally at 10-bits which will make a difference while it does the internal 128x accumulation. It's light (about half the weight of a Canon DSLR) so it's less strain on the mount.
It's a good camera (as far as I can tell) for me - I have a goto scope (LX90 8" UHTC GPS) operating in Alt/Az, which I have to transport to the viewing site when I wish to do stuff. No drift aligning needed, and the mount Goto / track does not need to be perfect (i.e. LX200 quality or better - 1arcmin). I can download the camera feed to my Mac via Craterlet and then process in Nebulosity (both from Stark Labs).
I will need a f6.3 and probably an f/3.3 reducer to make it function for deep sky objects - that's because the LX90 is f/9.6 and the native GSTAR will probably occupy around 12 x 8 arc minutes (cf NGC253 at 23 arc minutes, 47 Tuc at 32 arc minutes, and M42 at over 1 degree).
If colour is desired , then I'll need the colour wheel + filters.
The RS232 cable is a big +, and better by far in my thinking than the EXC remote box.
Now the bad news - this is what I have discovered from talking with other people here and at WSAAG. I have not yet had a chance to test one out - and that for me will be the acid test. No point in spending big on a camera if at the end of the day it's not suitable.
If you get anywhere in your research into this camera, please post your thoughts here ... I'd be pleased to hear any thoughts on the subject.
Regards,
Tony Barry
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